Toronto Maple Leafs: The New Fourth Line Is Rolling
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a lot of depth at the forward position, period.
There’s no question that the Toronto Maple Leafs have four lines of pure dominance, the only difference between each line is their job on the ice.
Generally, the fourth line is a time killing, shutdown, penalty killing line, or at least the makeup of it is, but the Leafs current fourth line can also score.
And I’m not talking about them scoring crazy amounts, but enough to get noticed.
Matt Martin has been the one constant on the line all season long, Moore will be another permanent fixture as Eric Fehr was recently waived and as for Mitchell Marner, he’s not suited for fourth line duties.
Having Marner playing a different role, a much more defensively responsible role is important when trying to get him going offensively, however, I doubt that’s Mike Babcock’s main concern.
He probably loves when Marner is going offensively and would just like to bring his defensive play up to par, but nevertheless, he’s a special talent.
Let’s take a look at how these three have faired since Marner joined the ranks.
Line Statistics
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Marner and Connor Brown switched spots in the lineup after the 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens and before their tilt against the Washington Capitals, so it’s been five games now with these new lines.
It took a few games for the three of them to get going, but they found their footing offensively during the LA Kings game.
Martin opened the scoring off a blast from the point, courtesy of Roman Polak, while Marner drew the secondary assist.
In the second period, Tyler Bozak would put the Leafs up by two, Marner getting his second apple of the night, but we’re not done yet.
Heading on over to last night’s 3-6 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes (which I was unable to watch closely, but will catch up at some point today), Moore was able to record his third goal of the season – first with this line makeup – off of a rebound from Martin.
I thought it was a pretty good garbage goal and also, all three of the Leafs losses this season have been 3-6 games, I’m getting tired of that.
Anyways, if we add all that up, there’s two goals and three assists from the fourth line in just two games.
I know that I’ve preached consistency before, so there’s no need to go back into that entirely, but if this line can remain consistent, then watch out.
Even more so when (and I really do mean when, because it’s just a matter of time) Marner moves back up in the ranks and someone else takes his place.
This line is slowly starting to bring in the points while playing effective hockey, what more do you want?
- Marner: one goal, five assists
- Moore: three goals
- Martin: one goal, two assists
The Leafs are back in action on Saturday night.